Dante Alighieri
: :"At the midpoint on the journey of life I found myself in a dark forest, for the clear path was lost" ''-Dante'' Dante Alighieri (1166-1191) was the mortal who transverse the 9 circles of Hell, in order to reclaim his love, Beatrice, from Lucifer. Childhood Dante's childhood was a difficult one. His father was a greedy alcoholic who would physically abuse Dante and his mother, steal from the poor, and use their money to "entertain" friends. With these traumas, along with the death of his mother believing she died of a fever when she actually commited suicide, his future was greatly affected making him similar to his father in several ways. Dante also had a mentor while he was growing up, his name was Brunetto Latini. Years later, Dante and Brunetto see each other again in Hell. The Crusades Dante was a veteran of the Third Crusade along with his best friend Francesco. He joined the Crusades believing that if he fought in them, his sins would be absolved. Dante and Francesco were present at the capturing of Acre, but Dante was shocked when he learned they had to "babysit the filthy heretics" while King Richard negotiated for the True Cross. During this time, a slave girl offered "comfort" in exchange for her and her "brother's" freedom to which Dante reluctantly accepted the offer. Against Francesco's objection, Dante slaughters all the prisoners, believing it was their mission to kill the "heretics" and "there is no shame" since "their souls are already lost". When King Richard discovered this, he demanded the one responsible step forward. Francesco takes the fall for his "brother", and is sent to be hung, leaving Dante to flee. During a raid on Acre by Saladin's forces, several of the prisoners escaped, but Dante was able to quickly kill them and continued to a courtyard. There an assassin came up to Dante and stabbed him in the back, which lead to the appearance of Death who stated Dante's punishment for his sins. Dante was confused and shocked at this, as the bishop assured the crusaders they were absolved of their sins for fighting in the Crusades. Death said Dante would spend eternity in Hell with the souls he had ruined, this motivated him to pull the knife from his back and challenge the Grim Reaper. Dante and Death did battle during which, he stole Death's scythe and killed him. The revelation of these events led to Dante returning home, during which he sowed a tapestry to his chest (as a form of Mortification of the Flesh) depicting his life to act as a reminder of his sinful past. Return After three years of fighting, Dante finally returned to Florence with Death's Scythe hoping to redeem himself someway. When he arrived at his home, Dante found his Father and Beatrice murdered. As Dante knelt beside her, Beatrice appeared as a spirit along with Lucifer, who appears as a black human-like creature, after a short talk t he creature takes Beatrice to hell. Dante gave chase, fighting undead minions from Hell, and arrived at a church. Inside he found Beatrice being tortured on a pedestal, asking why Dante broke his promise. After she disappeared, Dante was blessed with Beatrice's holy Cross and suddenly found the entire church falling apart. After fighting more of Hell's minions, Dante arrived at The Gates of Hell and encountered Virgil. Dante was told that Beatrice called for Virgil to help Dante, and gave him his first spell. Dante then fought a massive beast, and used it to open the Gates and began his journey into Hell. The Nine Circles Once Dante opens the Gates of Hell, he is confronted by Lucifer with a hypnotized Beatrice. After he taunts Dante, Lucifer flees with Beatrice and Dante runs toward a demon/ship hybrid named Charon. When Dante enters Charon he fights more minions of hell, hijacks another beast, and uses it to tear Charons head off and throw it off into the distance and escapes the crashing ship. He than arrives in Limbo where King Minos, Judge of the Dead resides. King Minos and Dante's fight ends with Dante sticking Minos' tounge on his torture wheel, spinning it and making his face split in half. Dante descends into Lust. Soon after arriving in a seemingly barren circle, a large phallic tower erupts from the ground. Soon after, a gargantuan Cleopatra climbs the tower, summoning a violent storm which surrounds the tower and blows all the souls trapped in the circle forever apart from one another. As Dante ascends the tower, Cleopatra attacks with massive fists and monsters spawning from her breasts. When Dante reaches the top of the tower, he and Beatrice see each other once more, but she is soon to be married to Lucifer. She is dressed up in a hellish gown with make up all over her face. The two disappear and Dante does battle with Marc Antony, who is spit out by Cleopatra. Dante defeats Marc Antony in battle despite the aid of Cleopatra in the background. Cleopatra shrinks to a normal size to grieve the loss of her lover, and attacks Dante. This attempt is foiled shortly after by Dante with a scythe blow to the heart. The platform Dante took to the top of the tower suddenly begins to drop and break apart, but Dante manages to use his scythe to swing to safety and begin his descent into the third circle of hell, Gluttony. The walls Dante clings to during his descent changes from a familiar rock surface to an organic fleshy one, signalling his arrival in Gluttony. Upon arriving, Dante is confronted by Cerberus, the three headed worm-like hellhound. Dante is able to defeat Cerberus and travels through the circle, under a storm of wastes and dangers hidden under the surface with many teeth. After traveling through a mirror-like doorway, Dante is confronted by Lucifer who confronts him about his sins, and shows him how his loved ones were murdered by a foreign stranger. After fighting off a glutton demon and working through a reality-bending puzzle, Dante finds himself descending into the fourth circle of Hell, Greed. In Greed, Dante travels through several obstacles, such as wall climbing, swinging on vines, hordes of minions of all kinds, hijacking a beast, and destroying the Wheel of Fortune. Eventually Dante finally his sees father once more. After death, Dante's father was condemned to Greed. Lucifer has warped Alighiero into a obese monster and promised him 1000 years free of torment and a horde of gold if he does one thing; murder his own son. Confronting his son as he enters the Fourth Circle, Alighiero is later defeated by Dante who then absolves him. Dante descended into Anger, goes through a few obstacles, fights a few hordes, and travels the River Styx but what is unknown to Dante is when he travels across the River, the boat he actually uses is really Phleygas' head. When Dante finds out he almost falls off but uses his Scythe in time to land on higher ground. Phleygas becomes angry because of this and attacks, but unlike the other circles, Dante does not fight the boss, instead Dante fights a horde of his minions. During Dante and Phleygas' fight, Dante sees Beatrice and Lucifer once more and Dante's promise with Beatrice is revealed. Beatrice eats three magical seeds that transform her into a demotic creature, she grows several hundred feet, and then makes out with Lucifer, disappearing shortly afterward. Soon after, Dante takes control of Phleygas and uses him to open the gates of the lower parts of Hell and enters Hersey. On the path to Dis, Phleygas' massive weight causes the floor to collapse and sends him hurdling down into the abyss. Heresy is the City of Dis. The entire city is filled with fire. Heretics burn for eternity in fiery tombs. Dante makes his way through with no real obstacles. However, the City starts to collapse due to the Harrowing of Hell, forcing Dante to leave the circle. Dante descends into the seventh circle, Violence. The Seventh Circle is divided into three parts. Dante crosses the river Phlegethon, the river of boiling blood, where those who acted with violence against others reside. After that, he enters the Woods of Suicide, It is here where Dante sees his mother for the first time since he was a child. His mother has been transformed into a part of the woods. She is withered, brittle and more plant-like than human. Virgil tells Dante what happens to those who commit suicide in hell. Dante is appalled that she is in hell when she supposedly died of fever. Dante is shown the truth that she took her own life. She asks her son to forgive her for not protecting him from his father. He takes his cross and gives her the peace she deserved. Dante eventually exits the woods and enters The Abominable Sands, a place for those who acted against God. It is a scorching desert filled with stone ruins. Dante finally sees his old friend Francesco. Francesco has now mutated in several ways such as having half a head made out of a plant, and skin tearing showing muscles and veins. Francesco is angry with Dante, blaming him for what has happened to him. Dante tries to talk to him and listen, but to no avail and is forced to kill his old friend. As he lays dying, the two briefly talk about the lies they listened to during their time at the crusades. When Francesco dies, Dante absolves him. Dante soon descends to Fraud, where he meets Beatrice. Beatrice, enraged at Dante makes him go through ten ditches all varying in many ways. After the trials, Dante says "I give up on this journey. I belong here... in Hell". He asks for forgiveness and presents Beatrice her cross. Beatrice then becomes absolved and Gabriel the Angel appears. Gabriel tells Dante he has almost redeemed himself and he will see Beatrice again soon, before disappearing. Dante descends into the final circle, Treachery. Dante fights and defeats Lucifer, only to have him split open his stomach to reveal his true form, a wingless demon. Lucifer then reveals that Beatrice had nothing to do with his plan, he only needed to marry someone who was destined for Heaven so that he can have his revenge. Dante fights Lucifer once more in an explosive battle ending with Lucifer being smashed into the ground creating an explosion and ending with his defeat, but just before Dante ensures the killing blow, Lucifer tells him to look at something. Dante is shown being stabbed in the back by someone back in Acre and dying. Dante retaliates to this revelation and says he has absolved many souls on his journey and that now they have the power to redeem him and calls out for their aid. The souls that Dante saved appear and reseal Lucifer in his prison, and finally absolves Dante. Ending thumb|300px|rightDante reappears naked in front of Beatrice in an area that is only white except for a mist covering Beatrice. The cross tapestry on his chest appears to have been burnt. He takes her hand and in a flash of light Dante is walking out of a cave and stops standing in front of the realm of "Purgatorio". "I did not die and I did not live" referring to how he was fatally wounded making Death appear, but he ended up killing Death. Dante rips the cross off his chest and throws it on the ground, where it turns to dust, and transforms into a tiny snake. As the serpent quietly slithers away, Lucifer's laugh eerily echoes out. Just before the screen fades to black, the words "To be continued..." appear before the credits begin to roll. Powers and Abilities Thanks to the powers of his Scythe and Cross, Dante has access to several supernatural powers, both Holy and Unholy. Death's scythe, which Dante stole from him after he died, provides Dante with his unholy powers and most of his melee attacks. When upgraded enough, the scythe's blade can light itself on fire, causing more damage to enemies. The scythe is also used to punish shades and enemies and to swing on cliffs if there is nothing to hold on to. Whenever it's used to attack, it usually gives off a golden yellow color to show its unholiness. The cross that Beatrice gave to Dante before he left to fight in the Crusades holds all of Dante's holy powers. All of the attacks Dante uses from it are light blue colored show its holiness. The cross is also used to absolve shades and enemies when needed. After finding all three of Beatrice's relics, it can auto absolve shades. Doing so, however, will not give Dante souls. Also, Dante seens to have superhuman strength, as he is able to hold himself between a beast's jaws and avoid being devoured, and exert enough strength to pull other demons using his Scythe. It's unknown why he is so physically strong, but if it has something to do with his weapons is not clearly confirmed. Trivia *The real Dante Alighieri was born May/June 1265 and died September 13/14, 1321. In the game, he died around May 1191 during the Crusade. *Dante's name means "having a long life". It is also a shorter name for Durante, which was his real first name. *Dante Alighieri was an actual historic person. In reality, he was an Italian poet, though in the game, he is a Crusader. *"Inferno" is the first part of Dante Alighierie's three part epic, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Comedy The Divine Comedy,] which also includes "Purgatorio" and "Paradiso," detailing Dante's journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. *In the game, Dante enters the Inferno to rescue Beatrice. In the poem, it's a journey of understanding. Dante wrote The Divine Comedy after being exiled from Florence in 1302 for being part of a rival political faction. The Epic is an allegory, and contains numerous references to the political situations in Florence at the time, as well as Dante's own inner struggles. *He is voiced by Graham McTavish. Category:Characters